Churchill Downs executive addresses surge in horse deaths

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The corporate owner of a New Orleans horse racing track has met with Louisiana’s Racing Commission to address a surge in horse deaths there. The Times-Picayune/The News Orleans Advocate reports an executive director for Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc. presented the commission with a list of reforms to consider on Monday. The proposals include restrictions on certain drugs that have been linked to horse fatalities. The commission’s leader says nine racehorses have died at the Fair Grounds Race Course since November. He says the commission will carefully consider the reforms. A U.S. House committee is also set to take up a bill that would place federal oversight on racing drugs.